AdamPayne

Hi everyone,

I'm not really sure what questions I have yet rather than looking for any advice on the below situation:

I’ve been in Japan since 2000. Next year, my wife (Japanese) and I along with kids (9 and 13) are hoping to move back to the UK, preferably before the start of the next school year.

Both my kids have UK passports and births registered in the UK.


I still have my UK bank account (HSBC incl CC and debit card) and UK driving license (thankfully).

Work-wise, I run my small company 100% online here in Japan. All I need is an internet connection to work. But not sure the best way to legally set this up in the UK.


Re: my wife’s potential spouse visa, we have over £62,500 in my UK bank and have had this for well over the 6 months required.


We also have family in the UK who are supportive and willing to help along with an idea of the area we would like to move to.


We need to consider getting a mortgage (seen several services that seem to specialize in overseas clients), schooling, medical (NHS and dentist) amongst other things.


For the kids and myself, is it as simple as just returning to the UK, finding a place to stay (family or short term rental) and from there, signing on the electoral register, getting on the NHS..etc


And while doing that, getting an immigration lawyer to help with the process of getting my wife over?


I’ll probably have more questions as we research more.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

durham_lad

Yes, it is as simple as that. We did this in 2016, our son in 2017 and hopefully our daughter later this year.

verystormy

Your wife could travel with you. Just apply for her visa from Japan.

AdamPayne

Thank you both for the replies.

One of the things that slightly concerns me (and this may be the media overplaying it), is that it can be hard to get both a doctor and dentist.

One of the good points about Japan is there are a ton of them and it's easy to get seen.

Is this actually a problem for many people on return?

durham_lad

I’m sure it depends on where you live but for us it was absolutely no problem, although we did choose a private dentist recommended by good friends here. Our son also uses the same dentist and when I saw him recently I mentioned that our daughter was moving back soon and he said he would be happy to have her as a patient.

The doctor was simply a matter of going into one of our local GP surgeries and registering.

AdamPayne

Thank you once again.

tdrinker

Easy to get a GP. The quality of the service is variable by location and practice, and may be lower than you remember from 20 years ago.

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp

Finding a private dentist is easy; finding an NHS dentist isn't.

Updating your driving licence to your new UK address can be done online:

https://www.gov.uk/change-address-driving-licence

The UK property market has a supply shortage currently, especially rentals, so it may take longer / be more difficult / expensive to find somewhere to rent or buy.

dean350

You and your kids can simply walk back in as you have British passports. If you are going the savings route then currently you should apply for a spouse visa 6 months in advance of travel and then you can all come together. Join a Facebook UK Spouse Visa group to get a flavour of whats required.. Its quite complex. Location and housing are likely to be driven by the kids schooling requirements. Arranging admission into a UK state school is difficult to impossible if you are outside the UK. You may have to wait until you are on the ground here. Choice of school may be limited so research that really carefully. With no UK credit history and being self employed, a UK rental will be tricky as there is a real shortage right now. Consider offering to pay rent in advance to jump the queue.

tdrinker

Adam maintained his UK bank account and credit card so will have a credit history, although finding somewhere to rent will still be difficult due to the limited supply.

Stelly

Spouse visa is a pain. I've been gone as long as you and the paperwork to get this together is tedious beyond belief. We have a solicitor as my time is more valuable to me than saving the fee. But still, it's irritating to have to keep coughing up evidence of our enormously long marriage. Processing times do seem to be 6 months. I need to move sooner than we can get the spouse visa for my husband, so that's not ideal. I'd get yours in 6 mos ahead so you can just all go together.

minhan

I got my spouse visa from US, husband and two children are British. They moved over here before me to start school. I had 1 visa declined because we didn't provide clear proof for accommodation. The second visa, my father-in-law provided his house title, letter (signed / stamped) saying his house is large enough for our family of 4 to stay while looking for our own. And, yes, we did use the savings Cat D approach. Took us more than 3 months, paying priority and lots of phone calls, emails paid to chase for the answer.

So, do apply in advance.